1491 B.C.
1-14. The Idolatry of the People.
1. Request of the People.
2. Aaron's answer.
3,4-. Idolatry purposed.
-4. Yahaveh's rejection.
5,6. Idolatry practiced.
7-10. Yahaveh's wrath.
11-13. Request of Moses.
14. Yahaveh's answer.
Exodus 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, "Arise, make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him."
(Aaron had been projected as this super minister, standing along side of Moses before Pharaoh, and the mouth piece for Moses when he spake. So when Moses was gone for this long span of time, the people got restless and went to Aaron. Aaron was like the super-preachers of today. The People demanded Aaron to get up and lead us, Moses is no longer here, they had completely lost sight of what Moses was doing, and why he was gone in the first place. He went up on that hill to talk to his God, and for all we know, Moses may be dead. Do you see what is happening here? The children of Israel want a god that they can see, and it simply did not matter to them what it was.
These stories that we are reading about Moses and the children of Israel are examples "ensamples" to help us living in these end times see what will be going on in our day. We are living in that time of the end of the world age, the trumps of the end time are sounding, and these things that we will be reading of here in this chapter are things we should become aware of. Those with spiritual eyes open to see, will pay attention to what went on here, and wake up.
I Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 12 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
These children of Israel also wanted something to see and worship, for they had only been gone out of Egypt for a few months, camped in the desert, and they wanted a god that they could talk to. However the part that is hard to understand of these children of Israel, they witnessed all the plagues that took place back in Egypt, and how God protected them from it. When Pharaoh's army was breathing down their neck, God opened the Red sea, and they passed through on dry ground: then stood by and watched as God closed those waters to kill all the enemy that was following them. Each morning they were picking up the manna off the ground for that day, and there was sufficient quail for all the people. They sat back and watched as Moses struck the rock, and water flowed for them and their animals. Yet, when Moses was gone for a few weeks, they lost all sense of reality and commitment to the True God, our Heavenly Father.
It sort of shows us the inner workings of our people even today, for most of them just are not interested in the things and warnings that He has given to us through His Word. When you get all tied up in the things of the world, stop and see how far your interest hold for the things of God. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:8,9 All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The things that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
So by the advise of both Paul and king Solomon, we are warned that the things that we are reading of here, shall happen again, just as they happened before. Expect it, now we will learn of events that are going to be similar to what is going on today.)
2 And Aaron said unto them, "Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons and of your daughters, and bring them unto me."
(Aaron is coming up with a new twist to their religion to give the people what they are looking for. He is taking the things that can be seen daily, the gold hanging from the ears of their wives and daughters, and the rings of their sons; and the message is bring them to me. Does is sound like something we hear every Sunday in our land. Bring your gold and money unto me and God will bless you. Sounds like the begging bag is out, and the people are coming for their blessings. Its offering time, collections of the gold.)
3 And all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them from their hand, and fashioned it with an engraving tool after he had made it a molten calf;
(The chief Egyptian god, with which they were familiar in Egypt.)
and they said, "These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!"
(This is the super-preacher doing this; He did what? He took the gold and fashioned it, and made it a molten calf. Aaron didn't just wish this to happen, but "he made it a molten calf." Aaron created an idol for the people to follow and worship. He made a tradition and false doctrine for the people to relay on, while Moses and God was not in their presence. Aaron made an image to be worshipped as the god of the children of Israel. Is Paul's warning to us living in these last days starting to take on new meaning?
Aaron and his sons, and the children of Israel have reached a new high point in being sacrilegious. Aaron is telling the people that this golden calf had brought them up out of the land of Egypt. Aaron himself is telling the people that this calf parted the Red sea, provided the manna and quail, and brought forth the water out of the rock. Friend, our heavenly Father can read even the thoughts that pass through the buds of your mind, and when you allow crap flow from your mouth like this, know that you are not pleasing to our Heavenly Father. Remember God's first commandment? "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." Then here the religious priestly leader of the Israel is bringing in a false religion.
This paganism is no different today, as when some teacher or preacher of religious groups bring in a false doctrine that goes against the Word of God, claiming to be a preacher of God; and presenting their teachings to be of God. God instructed us to follow His Word chapter by chapter and verse by verse, and to stay away from the traditions of men that make void the Word of God. Do you know the difference from what is given from a pulpit, and what is written in God's Word, or do you even care?)
5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD."
(Aaron didn't just make the calf, he dressed it up with a altar, that the people could see and worship before. What a mockery of God, Aaron even build a place to worship the image of this beast. Then in a very ritual form, Aaron stood before the people and presented his new religion in this proclamation, and declared that "tomorrow will be a feast day to the Lord." Notice that the "Lord" in the Hebrew was Yahaveh God, the true God of Israel". Aaron has now declared that God talked to Him and told him what to do. How many times have you heard some preacher say, "I talked to God today and He told me....(what ever it was)", yet that message went against what is written in the Word of God. Aaron is declaring here that "tomorrow will be the feast day", making this new image of the calf that the people will worship, to be something to be remembered for all generations.
This is the height of blasphemy, for Aaron even used the name of YHVH. Aaron compared this dumb golden calf made with his hands, to the creator of the Universe. Why did God allow him to live after such blasphemy? This is given to you and I to open our eyes to what is going to be going on at the end of this earth age. We are living at that time today. The point here is that Aaron knew better for what he was doing, yet he allowed it to take place anyway. God is going to be very tough on preachers that like to add their imagination to the Word of God, when they should know better.)
6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
(The word "play" means "to make sport; to dance lasciviously, even with sensual play, and it was center of idolatrous worship." This feast activity was part and passage of heathen worship. There was plenty of running around and jumping all over the place, and at this point in time, the fun of the activity was more important to this form of heathen worship than anything else. Sure they had their burnt offerings and of course the peace offerings and offering plate was passed several time, and it looked and felt so real and good at the time, but the entire thing was blaspheme, spitting in God's face. Have you seen anything that looks like this today? The noise was loud, the band was playing, and the jumping was going on with hands raised high before this dumb golden calf, this image that the priest Aaron and declared to be of God, yet the entire event was going against the Word of God.)
7 And the LORD said unto Moses, "Go, get thee down; for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.
(Father has disowned them, for He is telling Moses that they aren't Mine, their yours: "thy people", "thou brought them up out of the land of Egypt." Up to this point in time, God always called the children of Israel "My people", but not now. God is not pleased with these people, and wants no part of them and this new form of religion that they have created from their own minds.)
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed thereunto and said, `These are thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!'"
(Here it is just a little over thirty days since they left Egypt, and they have forgotten all that they have been through. By the time Moses gets back, it will be forty days, for forty means probation in biblical numerics. The children of Israel had forgotten the ways of God, set up their new image and worshipped it, and even sacrificed and given their offerings to that new image. They went the entire way to separate themselves from the One True God. Then they even took the things of God, the blessings and protection of our Heavenly Father, and gave tribute to this heathen calf god for that love and protection. These idiots even allowed themselves to believe that this golden calf that they watched as Aaron made it right there before their eyes, had they gave credit for all of God's blessings to this image.
We can see that God is not going to allow this to go on very long, but something will end it all. If you want God blessings to cease and the plagues of this world to come down on you, then just play around with the emotions of God, when you should know better. God takes pride in His people when they serve Him will, but He also is hurt in emotions when you do dumb things, like these children of Israel are doing.)
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiffnecked people.
10 Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation."
(He is fed up and tired of their wicked ways. God is telling Moses, I will destroy them, and make a great nation out of you.)
11 And Moses besought the LORD his God
(Heb. "the face of Yahaveh": i.e. before, or in the presence of Yahaveh.)
and said, "LORD, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy people, whom Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
(This is the reply of Moses. He knows they were not "Cast off" [Rom. 11:2], but only "cast aside" [Rom. 11:15], for a little moment. See Rom. 11:2,15.
It's good that Moses gave credit where credit was due; for those taking part in that orgy around the golden calf didn't have one thought for our Father's feelings.)
12 Why should the Egyptians speak and say, `For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Thy people.
(Moses pleads with Father to turn His wrath from doing these things to Thy people. If God follows through with this curse on Israel, it will even confuse Egypt as to why You allowed this to happen. Up to this point in time, Moses didn't say much, but let Aaron do the talking, but Moses is making up for his lack of words to this point in time. Moses is saying the right words at the right time, and he is getting the job done.)
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants to whom Thou sworest by Thine own self and saidst unto them, `I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.'"
(Moses is using every promise that God made in the past to save his people from their destruction. God can do it with just one word, and Moses knows that.)
14 And the LORD repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people.
(God was mad over the heathen religious practices that His people were doing and He was going to blot them out. What would you do if your children did such wickedness and evil to you, stand by and allow it to go on? No, you would be ready to throw them out of the house. Moses was a good man, and he did not condone what the people did, but he loved and was committed to his people. He was a true teacher caring for his people. God will punish these people for this act, just as He would you, if you turn your back on Him. Sure you can repent and get right with Him, but there will be a correcting time and a price to pay for wickedness against God.
God demands discipline, and He simply cannot use anyone that is undisciplined in and for His Work. When things aren't going well with you, think about how you are treating our heavenly Father, and following in His path. Man's traditions that go against His Word anger God and turn Him against you. If you are in a church that does not teach all the Word, with emphasis on the emotions and love of God, you are not being disciplined.)
15-30. The Fourth Descent.
14-24. The Sin of the People.
25-30. The Judgment of the People.
15-24. The Sin of the People.
15,16. The Tables carried.
17. Moses and Joshua.
18. Answer to Moses.
19,20. Tables broken.
21. Moses and Aaron.
22-24. Answer of Aaron.
15 And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tablets of the testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16 And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tablets.
17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp."
(Remember Joshua made part of the trip up onto the mount, and he waited there for Moses. He stayed up there by himself waiting for Moses return, while meanwhile back in the camp, the rest of the people were messing around with Aaron's heathen calf, and his feast time. The first thing that Joshua could think of was that there was fighting going on down in the camp. No, it wasn't fighting, but Aaron's new found religion paying tribute to this golden calf.)
18 And Moses said, "It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome; but the noise of them that sing do I hear."
(Moses reminded Joshua that this noise was not the voice of warriors calling for victory; but the cry of people that have just been defeated. There was quite an orgy and singing going on to this golden calf that Aaron made to take place of the true God. These were our own people, the people of Israel that were turning themselves into heathen worshippers.)
19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them beneath the mount.
(Moses was so mad at the people that he had led, knowing that they had witnessed the love and protections of God towards them. Yet when he had been gone for just a short time, this is what they had turned into.)
20 And he took the calf which they had made and burned it in the fire and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water and made the children of Israel drink of it.
(Remember that this calf was wooden, overlaid with gold, so it would burn and melt down fairly easy. Moses is going to grind up that old heathen god and make the people eat it.)
21 And Moses said unto Aaron, "What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?"
(Moses is asking his brother Aaron what could have happened while I was gone to cause the people to bring such a great sin upon them. Your the head priest Aaron, what did they do or say to you as the head priest to make you do such a sinful thing. We see a preacher here that got caught putting his own foolishness into action, and declaring it to be of God, but here Aaron was made to account for his actions.)
22 And Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord wax hot. Thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.
23 For they said unto me, `Make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him.'
(Aaron is trying to make it sound truthful, for there are some correct statements here, but remember that Aaron was all set himself to get on with this new calf religion. In fact Aaron had this calf worship feast day set up to be perpetual, to all future generation.)
24 And I said unto them, `Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off.' So they gave it to me. Then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf."
(Is Moses going to buy this fairy tale? This was an outright lie from the high priest.
Remember from verse four, Aaron took an engraving tool, and made this molten calf; Then in the next verse Aaron built this altar before this calf and made his proclamation that is was of the Lord, and called for the feast day. There is nothing new under the sun, for we see this going on all the time even today. Preachers and teachers claiming that it must be something spiritual, for I just sat there and God put the idea in my mind, and there it was. You hear them saying it all the time; I talked with God today, only what they have to say goes against God's Word. That is what happened here; Aaron got caught in his deceitful lie. The big lie today is that you don't have to study God's Word, The Spirit will give you everything that you need. they close their mind to the book of Revelation, and much of the Old Testament, because they say they will be gone when Satan comes.
This sounds like a nightmare, for the very chapters and verses that prepare you for the coming of the antichrist, Satan, is what they are discarding for their golden calf religious ideas, such as the rapture doctrine. In fact today, our people are so lazy in spiritual matters, they love to hear that they don't have to study to know the truth. They are willing to place the future of their souls on some person like Aaron that will give them exactly what they want, and then lie about it. They are placing a man's words over the Word of God, and they really don't want to be confronted about it. They have itching ears, yet are spiritually blind. They would rather buy that one way ticket to hell, than prepare themselves for the events that our Lord has warned us will happen in our generation. Most Christians today have no idea what the two messiah that are coming are like, which is the true Messiah, nor what to do to get read for them. They will hop on the first flight that comes and hope to fly away, while their world falls apart.
Satan is leading people that are professing to be of Christ, as the Scriptures warn us in Mark 13:5,6; And Jesus answering them began to say, "Take heed lest any man deceive you: For many shall come in My name, saying, `I am Christ;' and shall deceive many. Those false preachers will lead their people right into the synagogue of Satan, and the entire congregation will be biblically illiterate. The people will love following those false preachers just as the children of Israel loved Aaron and this golden calf he made. It was all based on a lie and deception then, just is man's traditions are today. Aaron claimed he just put the gold in the fire and out popped this calf, lying like a dog, just as many preachers lie through their teeth to the congregation every Sunday. What's new under the sun; People still like to hear lies, and chase after man's imaginations. Don't listen to any preacher or teacher, including this study unless you check it out for yourself from the Word of God. Let God's Word be your supreme authority. Moses knew that Aaron was lying.)
25-30. The Judgment of the People.
25. Idolatry.
26-. Call of Moses.
-26. Levites' response.
27. Command of Moses.
28. Levites' obedience.
29,30. Atonement.
25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies),
(Here the children of Israel were standing naked from their sexual orgies of religious instruction; and Moses knew exactly where the idea came from. Moses knew that his brother gave the orders and set the form of worship before this golden calf, and every thing that took place was instigated out of the mind of Aaron. Aaron should have been beaten, and even stoned for allowing it to happen, yet Moses didn't. Aaron was the head preacher, and this would have embarrassed the head preacher. Remember what Paul told us in I Corinthians 10:11; These stories are examples [ensamples] of those things that we can expect to see at the end of this world age of flesh man. We are living in the end times and the most of the trumps and seals of the end times are history to you and I today.
In the expression "...made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:" tells us that the entire camp was standing there naked, and they didn't even have their guard out to protect them from their enemies. Yet at the same time, as the heathen were looking down on their camp and watching what was taking place, they can see what the god of these people cause them to do. The point here is that people that are suppose to be children of God, are acting worse than what you would expect heathen to act.)
26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the LORD'S side? Let him come unto me." And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
(I.e. all who had not joined in the idolatry. Cp. Deut. 33:9.)
27 And he said unto them, "Thus saith the LORD God of Israel: `Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.'"
(So how many out of several million were there that would not chose God? Do you think that with this threat over their head, anyone would not chose God?
When the Antichrist appears there will be many that will be convinced by their pastor that Satan is the True Christ, and they would risk their entire life on that lie. Today many pastors tell their people it is not important to know all of God's Word, just believe, that's all. Friend you had better have an understanding of the entire Word of God to prepare you for those things that are just ahead in our lives. You had better be prepared to follow the Word of God, because the traditions of today will get you in trouble spiritually.)
28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
29 For Moses had said, "Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, even every man upon his son and upon his brother, that He may bestow upon you a blessing this day."
(Moses knows that God is angry with the people and wanted to kill them all. Friend it is better to lost three thousand trouble makers, then to have the entire camp wiped out by God.
Many churches today try to hang on to every soul that walks through the front door. Even though most of the new ones may be a thorn in the side of the congregation, and trouble makers to the worship service. Those trouble makers have no intent to find out what God's Word says, not align his life and deeds to following Christ. You don't need people like this to have a harmonious church, for they will destroy the work of your church, so end it while you can, get rid of them.)
30 And it came to pass on the morrow that Moses said unto the people, "Ye have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up unto the LORD. Perhaps I shall make an atonement for your sin."
Moses' Fifth Ascent.
1-33. The Sin and its consequences.
34-. Command to depart.
-34. Angel's guidance promised.
35. The Sin and its consequences.
31 And Moses returned unto the LORD and said, "Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold.
32 Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin -- and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written!"
(Moses is pleading for the children of Israel's life. This is the mark of a true leader, for Moses is taking the responsibility for all that has happened. Moses is telling God that if you can not forgive them for this sins, then I do not deserve to be written in Your book of Life. Moses was willing to sacrifice himself for the people, even though he was still quite mad at what had been going on. However God didn't take Moses' advise, but acted on His own instruction. God is the judge of all people and it is He that decides who will be blotted out, and who will be in the book of life.)
33 And the LORD said unto Moses, "Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book.
(Under the Law, the sinner blotted out: under grace, sin blotted out. See Ps. 69:21.)
34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee; behold, Mine angel shall go before thee. Nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them."
(See Gen. 26:28; 50:24,25. This is to emphasize the fact that there is such a thing as postponed judgment. Cp. 34:7. Num. 14:33. Ezek. 18:1-3. Matt. 23:32-36.)
35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf which Aaron made.
(God didn't let the people off the hook because of their repentance, and He was going to plague them for the sins that they have committed. When you repent of a sin, and you are in a place of responsibility, get set for God's correction, for it will come.)